The Turkish VanThe Turkish Van |
Origin, Recognation, Standard
This cat originates from the east of Turkey at the foot of the mount Ararat, around lake "Van".
The exact origin is not known, it is supposed that they originate from the semi-longhair cats of China. They landed here and stayed from the busy silk ways. All this time, this cat has been in this area, without interference of human being, and is developed into a beautiful, natural breed.
The first Turkish Van cats were imported by two English ladies in 1955(Miss Laura Lushington and miss Sonia Halliday) together with other imported cats, those two cats are the foundation of our Turkish Van. For recognition and subscription by the English Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF), Miss Laura Lushington was obliged to breed four generation of pure breed. The first names of the cats were:
- Anatalya Annatolia (Antalya is a provincial capital situated by the Central Sea.
- Van Iskenderun Guzelli (The Bay of Iskenderum near Syria)
- Stambul Byzantium ( The name of the capital of the old Byzantium Empire, now for the moment known as Istanbul)
- Burdur ( a place near the lake of Burdur)
About the link and why this names are choosen, is nothing known. In 1969 the breed Turkish Van is recognized by the GCCF under the purebreed number 13d. Miss Laura Lushington succeeded to take over from her own formulated standard.
Colour and fur
Chalk white coat without any sign of yellow. Auburn head markings with a white blaze, white ears. The nose, and the inside of the ears must pink. The fur must be long, soft, smooth and silky. No under-fur.
Head
Short wedge-form, good big hairy ears, straight erect ears which are close to each other, a long nose.
Eyes
Round, colour is light amber, the rim of the eyelids must be pink.
Body
Long but robust, the legs must be rather long, with fur between the toes.
Studs must have a muscular neck and shoulders.
Tail
A rather long tail, full, colour is auburn with rings, more pronounced in kittens.
As comment: this is the perfect cat, body spots are not desired. But this is no good reason to disqualify a good looking specimen.
Two big errors are made here
-to ignore other colour of eyes and fur
-the strictly described headmarkings and tail without other spots on the body.
This meant that a lot of breeders could not use a lot of cats to breed, and inbreeding was the unavoidable consequence. After some time, the character-errors were starting to appear. The lovely, devoted Van-cat, became after a time a shy, vicious cat totally alienated from such haughty breed.
In 1986 there was made a ridiculous adaptation of the breed-standard by the GCCF.
Beside the Auburn-white, there is now also the colour cream allowed and for the eyes the colour blue and odd-eyed recognized.
Here in Belgium, Holland, Germany, France and other countries can have other colours as well.
Black-white, blue-white, cream-white, tortoise-white, tortie tabby-white, blue-cream-white. All recognized with the eye-colour amber, blue and odd-eyed.
Character
The Turkish Van is a cat who has the reputation that they can only be kept by experienced cat-lovers. This reputation is not correct. More breeders are breeding more and more for the nice character and not only for the standard markings of the Turkish Van, and they become a very nice and devoted cat.
Although in most families each Turkish Van cat has his favorite, all members of the house are tolorated. Already of the age of some weeks till 9 months, the kittens are very active and their playing is violent and sometimes even very wild. This has something to do with their very difficult living conditions in the mountains arround the Van-Lake. To survive there, you must be quick, strong and very ingenious in finding your daily meal. After some time, they become quiet but they stay playful and very affectionated cat for young and old. The Turkish Van cat is also very understanding.they don’t beat about the bush, when they do and don’t like something.
The swimming cat
In each book you read, you will find that they can swim. After years of breeding Turkish Van cats I must admit they haven't any fear of water. A lot of times we experienced this in the bathroom with the kittens. Nevertheless I’m not convinced that this is a swimming cat, like they say in books. Playing with water, yes, but swimming?
I have not yet one cat seen jumping in the pond that we have in our garden.
The origin of this story has his suspicious in the difficult, poor envirement of the Ararat mountains. When the cats were greatly lacking in food, they have turned to fish in the lake, and those are still swimming in the water, as far as I know.
Author:
Marc Thys "Cattery VAN THYMAR"
2570 Duffel - Belgium
phone: +32+ (0)15 315807
fax: +32+ (0)15 322697
e-mail : marc.thys@skynet.be